Lydia Leonard
British actress (born 1981)
title: "Lydia Leonard" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1981-births", "living-people", "alumni-of-bristol-old-vic-theatre-school", "english-stage-actresses", "people-educated-at-bedales-school", "actresses-from-paris", "english-radio-actresses", "english-television-actresses", "21st-century-english-actresses", "english-people-of-french-descent", "english-people-of-irish-descent"] description: "British actress (born 1981)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Leonard" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary British actress (born 1981) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | lydia leonard 2023 1.jpg |
| caption | Leonard at the British Library in 2023 |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Paris, France |
| education | Bedales School |
| alma_mater | Bristol Old Vic Theatre School |
| occupation | Actress |
| years_active | 2004–present |
| known_for | Bring Up the Bodies, Ten Percent, and The Crown |
| website | |
| :: |
| image = lydia leonard 2023 1.jpg | alt = | caption = Leonard at the British Library in 2023 | birth_date = | birth_place = Paris, France | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = Bedales School | alma_mater = Bristol Old Vic Theatre School | occupation = Actress | years_active = 2004–present | agent = | known_for = Bring Up the Bodies, Ten Percent, and The Crown | notable_works = | style = | awards = | website = | footnotes =
Lydia Leonard (born 5 December 1981) is a British actress. She starred in the stage adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies, and as Jane Rochford in the 2024 TV adaptation of Mantel's third novel in the trilogy, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. She is also known on television for her roles in the BBC Two sitcom Quacks (2017), and Amazon Prime series Ten Percent (2022), and The Crown (2022–2023) on Netflix.
Early life and education
Lydia Leonard was born on 5 December 1981 in Paris, France.
She attended Bedales School in the village of Steep, Hampshire, before training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, England.
Career
Stage
In 2005 Leonard appeared on stage as Polyxena in an Royal Shakespeare Company {RSC) production of Hecuba starring Vanessa Redgrave. The production played in London's West End and then at B.A.M. in New York. Also in 2005, she appeared as Caroline Cushing in the original Donmar Theatre and West End productions of Frost/Nixon.
In May 2009 she played Hazel Conway alongside Francesca Annis in the National Theatre's production of Time and the Conways.
In 2010 Leonard played the role of Jackie Onassis in Martin Sherman's play Onassis at the Novello Theatre in London.
Leonard played Anne Boleyn in the RSC production of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies at London's Aldwych Theatre from May until October 2014. The RSC production transferred to Broadway as Wolf Hall: Parts One and Two at the Winter Garden Theatre, running from March until July 2015. Leonard reprised the role, which earned her a nomination for the 2015 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
In March 2023, she starred in Women, Beware the Devil at the Almeida Theatre, London. The production was rated 3/5 stars by The Guardian.
Screen
On television Leonard had an ongoing role in 1950s-set detective series Jericho starring Robert Lindsay, and appeared in True True Lie (2006) and The Long Walk to Finchley (2008), along with a cameo in Rome (2006, "The Stolen Eagle"), and as a nurse in the BBC's Casualty 1909.
In 2008 she played the female lead in the BBC feature film remake of The 39 Steps. She starred as Cynthia in Joanna Hogg's 2010 feature film Archipelago.
In 2012, Leonard starred in two episodes of ITV drama series Whitechapel, as psychiatrist Morgan Lamb, for which she was nominated for Most Outstanding Actress at the Monte Carlo television awards. In 2013, she played a leading role in the action adventure film Legendary: Tomb of the Dragon. In the same year, she played Alex Lang in DreamWorks The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
In 2015, Leonard played Virginia Woolf in Life in Squares, a BBC miniseries on the Bloomsbury Group.
Between 2019 and 2022, she appeared as Mariana Lawton in Gentleman Jack.
In 2022, Leonard starred as Rebecca Fox in Ten Percent, the English version of the French original TV series Call My Agent!. That same year, Leonard appeared as Cherie Blair in series 5 of Netflix drama The Crown.
In 2024, she was cast as Lady Rochford in the BBC television adaptation of Wolf Hall, replacing Jessica Raine who had portrayed the character in the first season.
Acting credits
Film
::data[format=table]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | The Heat of the Story | Unknown | Short film |
| 2006 | True True Lie | Dana | |
| 2008 | The 39 Steps | Victoria Sinclair | |
| 2010 | Archipelago | Cynthia | |
| 2013 | The Fifth Estate | Alex Lang | |
| 2013 | Legendary | Katie | |
| 2014 | Born of War | Olivia | |
| 2016 | The Prevailing Winds | The Hiker | Short film |
| 2019 | Last Christmas | Marta Andrich | |
| 2023 | The Rabbi’s Son | Rachel | Short film |
| 2023 | Northern Comfort | Sarah | |
| :: |
Television
::data[format=table]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Foyle's War | Marion Greenwood | TV series (Series 3 Episode 1: "The French Drop") |
| Midsomer Murders | Phoebe Frears | Episode: "Ghosts of Christmas Past" | |
| 2005 | Rome | Julia | Episode: "The Stolen Eagle" |
| Jericho | Angela | 4 episodes | |
| 2006 | The Line of Beauty | Penny Kent | 3 episodes |
| 2008 | Ashes to Ashes | Sara Templeton | Episode 4: "The Missing Link" |
| Casualty 1907 | Laura Goodley | 3 episodes | |
| Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley | Joyce | TV movie | |
| The 39 Steps | Victoria Sinclair | TV movie | |
| 2009 | Casualty 1909 | Laura Goodley | 4 episodes |
| 2011 | Spooks | Martha Ford | Series 10, Episode 2 |
| 2012 | Law & Order UK | Lucy Kennard | Episode 13: "Fault Lines" |
| Whitechapel | Morgan Lamb | Series 3; 2 episodes | |
| 2013 | Ambassadors | Fergana | Episode: "The Tazbek Spring" |
| Da Vinci's Demons | Reina Isabel I de Castilla | Episode: "The Tower" | |
| Lucan | Melissa | Miniseries; Episode 2 | |
| 2015 | Life in Squares | Young Virginia Woolf | Miniseries |
| River | Marianne King | Miniseries; 2 episodes | |
| 2017 | Apple Tree Yard | Bonnard | Miniseries; 2 episodes |
| Quacks | Caroline | 6 episodes | |
| 2017–2019 | Absentia | Logan Brandt / Laurie Colson | Recurring role (Series 1); Guest role (Series 2) |
| 2019–2022 | Gentleman Jack | Mariana Lawton | Recurring role; 8 episodes |
| 2020 | Flesh and Blood | Natalie | Miniseries |
| 2021 | Red Election | Beatrice Ogilvy | Main role |
| 2022 | Ten Percent | Rebecca Fox | Main role |
| 2022–2023 | The Crown | Cherie Blair | Guest role (season 5 and season 6) |
| 2024 | McDonald & Dodds | Lucy Holgate | Episode: "The Rule of Three" |
| 2024 | We Are Lady Parts | Clarice Melville | Series 2; 4 episodes |
| 2024 | Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light | Jane Rochford | 4 episodes |
| 2025 | Down Cemetery Road | Defence Secretary Talia Ross | 5 episodes |
| :: |
Selected theatre credits
- The Meeting (Chichester Festival Theatre)
- Oslo (National Theatre/West End)
- Wolf Hall (RSC/ Broadway, Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play)
- Onassis (West End)
- Time and the Conways (National Theatre)
- Elektra (Young Vic Theatre)
- Let There Be Love (Tricycle Theatre)
- Frost/Nixon (Donmar Warehouse/West End)
- Little Eyolf (Almeida Theatre)
- Hecuba (RSC)
- Women, Beware the Devil (Almeida Theatre)
Video games
::data[format=table]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Star Wars: The Old Republic | Additional Voices | |
| 2013 | Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel | Katha Niar | |
| Divinity: Dragon Commander | Princess Camilla, Prospera | ||
| 2014 | Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan | Lana Beniko | |
| 2015 | Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn | Lucia | Heavensward expansion onwards |
| Everybody's Gone to the Rapture | Amanda Mason | ||
| Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire | Lana Beniko / Additional Voices | ||
| Star Wars: Battlefront | Unknown | ||
| 2016 | Homefront: The Revolution | Unknown | |
| Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Eternal Throne | Lana Beniko | ||
| 2017 | Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands | Midas Female / Nomad Female Replicated | |
| Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age | Queen Marina | ||
| Total War: Warhammer II | Unknown | ||
| 2018 | Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom | Nerea | English version |
| 2019 | GreedFall | Chief Derdre / Other Characters | |
| Star Wars: The Old Republic: Onslaught | Lana Beniko / Additional Voices | ||
| :: |
Selected audio credits
- The Colour of Murder, by Julian Symons, BBC Radio 4 2003, with Tom Smith, Lydia Leonard, Frances Jeater
- A Sting in the Tale – Myrtle, Mahonia and Rue, by Briony Glassco, BBC Radio 4, 1//1/2004
- Bunyan John – The Pilgrim's Progress, weekly from 4 January 2004, with Anton Rodgers, Neil Dudgeon, Alec McCowen, Anna Massey, Philip Voss, Lydia Leonard
- The Lair of the White Worm, by Stoker Bram, BBC World Service 4 December 2004, with Peter Marinker, Ben Crowe, Stephen Critchlow, Lydia Leonard, Richenda Carey
- The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov, BBC World Service 18 March 2006, with Ben Silverstone, Lydia Leonard, Nicholas Farrell
- Our Country's Good, by Thomas Keneally, adapted by Timberlake Wertenbaker, BBC World Service ~15 October 2005, with Nichloas Bolton, Lydia Leonard, Geoffrey Whitehead
- How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, by Toby Young; R4 afternoon play 3 November 2006; with Val Murray, Kerry Shale, Lydia Leonard, Elizabeth Bell, Kim Wall.
- Arms and the Man, by GB Shaw, BBC Radio 3 21 March 2010, with Rory Kinnear, Lydia Leonard, Hugh Ross, Frances Jeater
Awards and nominations
::data[format=table]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Tony Award | Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play | Wolf Hall: Parts One and Two | |
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | |||
| :: |
References
References
- Dalglish, Darren. (13 October 2010). "Questions and Answers with...". londontheatre.co.uk.
- (26 July 2017). "27 famous people who went to school in Hampshire". Great British Life.
- Winer, Linda. (2005-06-20). "Redgrave rules 'Hecuba'". [[Newsday]].
- Gore-Langton, Robert. (2009-05-10). "When the party's over". [[The Sunday Telegraph]].
- Sykes, Pandora. (21 October 2010). "Lydia Leonard on being Jackie O". London [[Evening Standard]].
- Clapp, Susannah. (3 March 2023). "The week in theatre: Women, Beware the Devil; Romeo and Julie; Shirley Valentine – review".
- (2009-06-20). "Sunday's choices". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
- Debnath, Neela. (27 July 2015). "Life in Squares: Lydia Leonard says new Bloomsbury group series will be 'racy'". Daily Express.
- Barr, Sabrina. (22 May 2022). "Gentleman Jack star Suranne Jones addresses possibility of future seasons as series 2 finale draws near".
- Aroesti, Rachel. (16 April 2022). "'We're not as cool as the French – it's more bumbling': Lydia Leonard on remaking Call My Agent!".
- Molina-Whyte, Lidia. (2 November 2021). "The Crown casts Lydia Leonard as Cherie Blair in season 5".
- Clark, Nick. (22 February 2023). "Women, Beware the Devil's Lydia Leonard on the new Almeida show and playing Cherie Blair in The Crown". London [[Evening Standard]].
- (18 October 2003). "The Saturday Play: The Colour of Murder".
- (1 January 2004). "A Sting in the Tale: 2: Myrtle, Mahonia and Rue".
- (3 November 2006). "Afternoon Play: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People".
- "An American in Paris & Fun Home Top 2015 Tony Nominations". Broadway.com.
- "Hamilton, An American in Paris & More Receive 2015 Drama Desk Nominations". Broadway.com.
- "Something Rotten! & On the Twentieth Century Top List of 2015 Outer Critics Circle Nominations". Broadway.com.
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